Good name posts and beautiful Name products

I loved both of these recent posts on the Baby Name Wizard site:

Are Presidential Candidates Running Away From Their Own Names? (It’s all about nicknames! I was most intrigued by Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz, Cara Carleton “Carly” Fiorina, and Piyush “Bobby” Jindal — Laura explains how each nickname came to be. The comments were good too.)

15 British Baby Names That Just Don’t Exist in America (Fascinating list! “The top 1,000 names lists from England and Wales include scores of names that don’t register in American stats at all. Let me emphasize that: these names aren’t just rare, they’re statistically nonexistent. Given that the most recent U.S. stats tally more than 30,000 names from Aaban to Zyyon, that’s saying something“)

And in light of my posts on the Holy Name of Jesus (here and here) I was loving these products from the Catholic Company:

An IHS Coffee Mug, where IHS is “the Holy Name of Jesus as it was written in the Gospels, is the first three letters of the Greek Spelling of the Holy Name of Jesus. The name “Jesus”, in Greek, is translated “ihsous.”” (Personalizable!)

IHS Coffee Mug

A Personalized IHS Prayer Card Holder, for all those holy cards we all have that “accumulate over time, often being stuffed in Bibles, missals, or prayer books which causes them be lost or forgotten.” (Personalizable!)

Personalized IHS Prayer Card Holder

These beautiful Jesus Beads, which I’d never heard of, but I loved this: “Jesus Beads originated in the tradition of the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Called a chotki, the strand may have as many as 100 beads or as few as 25. The chotki is traditionally used as a silent “breath prayer”, with “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God” prayed on inhalation and “have mercy on me, a sinner” prayed on exhalation. This is known as the Jesus Prayer, or the Prayer of the Heart, which invokes the Holy Name of Jesus and implores His divine mercy. (You can read about the “Jesus Prayer” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2665-2669)”:

Prayer to Jesus

2665 The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in the Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our lips and engrave in our hearts prayer to Christ in the form of invocations: Son of God, Word of God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God, King, Beloved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Life, our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of mankind. . . .

2666 But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: JESUS. The divine name may not be spoken by human lips, but by assuming our humanity The Word of God hands it over to us and we can invoke it: “Jesus,” “YHWH saves.”16 The name “Jesus” contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation. To pray “Jesus” is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him.17

2667 This simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. The most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.” It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light.18 By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior’s mercy.

2668 The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases,19 but holds fast to the word and “brings forth fruit with patience.”20 This prayer is possible “at all times” because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.

2669 The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior’s steps. The stations from the Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy Cross has redeemed the world.

Jesus Beads

Finally, Devotion to the Holy Face by Mary Frances Lester. I know it’s not specifically about the Holy Name, but I just discovered today that St. Therese’s full religious name was Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, so how coincidental to see this!

Devotion to the Holy Face

Happy Thursday night y’all! (Does anyone else wish it was okay for non-Southerners to use y’all? It’s so useful! I find it creeping into my thoughts though I usually edit it out of my speech … but not tonight! Also, aren’t Thursdays the best? My dad always says that Thursday’s the best day of the week because no one really minds going to work on Friday, since it’s the last day of the week and has a party feel of its own, so Thursday night especially feels kind of like the beginning of the weekend. I suppose that’s the idea behind Thursday nights being Going Out nights in college? So then maybe consider this your happy hour. 🙂 )

(Okay, one more story — my husband went out for a brief drink after work tonight with colleagues, and when he got home I meant to say, “How was happy hour?” but what came out was, “How was holy hour?” Bahaha! I’m still laughing!) 😀

11 thoughts on “Good name posts and beautiful Name products

  1. Is it weird to NOT hate the name Barney? I kind of don’t. And I love Ralphie. (Also, Poppie isn’t bad – though I think I like Poppy better.)

    Until a day after the debate, I hadn’t realized that Jeb Bush’s name was John Ellis Bush. (When I heard it I actually thought of a post you wrote about nicknames from initials!!) I love it. I don’t even agree with him on most issues but just his name alone sounds so friendly that it’s hard not to like him a little (or maybe I’m just crazy?). I think it’s a great nickname, not to mention a pretty cool way of coming up with a nickname.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I totally agree on Jeb’s name! I love it, and I love a nickname from initials. Too cool that you like Barney! Haha! I do love Barnabas, and even Barnaby, but I admit I don’t care for Barney.

      Like

      • Barnabas/Barnaby > Barney for sure (I’d happily use it as a nickname though). I have this thing where I love names when they’re used in other countries… but wouldn’t use it here. Rufus, Fergus – totally awesome! …If I were in England. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to use them here. Same with Barney!

        Like

      • I totally get it! I’m a sucker for the Irishy Irish names but I’m just not sure I could do it here (if my husband would go for it, I mean, which isn’t likely).

        Like

  2. This is what’s flooring me:

    “15. Anything-Mae (F, 25 different names in the top 1,000 that don’t exist in the U.S.): In England hyphenation is hot, and Mae (in every spelling) is the epicenter of the trend. Millie-Mae, Lexi-Mae, Daisy-May and Poppy-Mae are just the beginning. For boys try -Lee, as in Tommy-Lee, Jayden-Lee and Alfie-Lee.”

    ALFIE-LEE IS A GIVEN NAME?!?!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Since the day when you first know what is your name? You were surely thought about what does that mean and from where it is originated. Meaning and origin of your name are vital; there are many versatile names origins all across the globe. If you would like to find out the meaning or origin of any of the names, you can simply search at http://www.babynology.com.

    Like

  4. Our 5yo, Urban, was named after my husband’s Uncle Steve’s middle name Urban (and for the saint/pope), who was named after their uncle Urban, nicknamed Barney…we found that out a year or two after Urban was born and named and I can honestly say we never considered calling him Barney as a natural nickname! Urbie Derby, yes. I also know an Oisin, Poppy (though with a -y), a few Kenzies, and an Ivy Mae as well as several girls with Mae/May as a middle name who don’t really go by both names. What a fun post!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Your blog was recommended to me by my daughter because we have something in common – a love of The Holy Name and the Holy Face. And you are quite right, there is an inseparable connection between the two! So, I wanted to share with you my own blog on that very topic. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had much to say about it! – Illuminadomine.wordpress.com The first post was on The Devotion to They Holy Face and the Holy name if you would like to take a look. May His Face shine upon you and your loved ones! God bless your work!

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a comment